Starting Over Sounds Good
by Storm Gryffis
Summary: One-shot. Clara/11, minor River/11. I wrote this ages ago when inspiration hit me. I only realized I could post it as a one-shot now. Rated T for...stuff, includes slaps, shouting, miscarriages, and tears.


The Doctor looked down at Clara, who was currently resting in his arms. They had been a couple for three years now, adventuring through time and space frequently. The kissing, and later on, sex, was fun, and both enjoyed themselves. He loved her and she loved him. It had been around a month after they got together did he finally tell her about her others selves, and how they died. She had just stroked his hair out of his eyes and thanked him for telling her.

The TARDIS had warmed up to her considerabley after that, as she finally understood that it had hurt her much more than it had hurt the Doctor, as she could see what could have happened with the Doctor and each Clara, though the first was an Oswin.

He frowned when she woke up suddenly and rushed out of his arms for the bathroom. When he went to see what was the matter, he found the door locked.

"Clara? What's the matter?"

He heard wretching and reached for his sonic screwdriver when she shouted. "I'm fine, just feeling a little off. No need to worry."

The Doctor could hear the strain in her voice and shook his head. "You know that isn't true, what's the matter?"

"I'm **fine**. Its just a little stomach bug. I'll get over it in a day, always have."

But she didn't. It continued for two weeks before the Doctor finally put his foot down.

"No, Clara. You are **not** okay!"

"I'm fine!" She said, glaring at him, but her pale skin said differently.

"Clara, what's wrong!" He whisper-shouted, coming close to her. He rested his head on her hair. "I just want to take care of you. Please, let me help." He begged, looking her in the eyes as he cupped her cheeks.

She opened her mouth before closing her eyes and shaking her head, looking down. "I can't tell you, your heart would break."

The Doctor frowned sadly, lifting her chin to look at her face. He was alarmed to see tears streaking down her cheeks, and wiped them away with his thumb.

"Please."

"I-I...I had a miscarriage." She whispered, looking him in the eyes before closing them and looking away.

The Doctor stared at her. Clara had been pregnant, pregnant with _his_ child. He felt excited by it for a second before her words finally sunk in. _Miscarriage_. She lost it.

"Oh, Clara." He whispered, putting a hand on her teary cheek. Kissing her forehead lightly, he hugged her tightly and it was like a dam broke. Tears poured out of her eyes and loud sobs filled the control room. Clara clung to him like a lifeline, crying into his shirt.

"I lost it. God, I lost our _kid_." She sobbed quietly. The Doctor just tightened his hold before picking her up and walking through the TARDIS until they came to the Medical Bay. He hooked her up to a few machines before handing her a glass of healing fluid. She downed it in one, recognizing the contents, before looking to the monitors where a heap of Gallifreyan was scrolling down.

"You're fine, your body's just adjusting back to normal. You'll be fine again in the morning." He said softly, holding her against his chest after removing the scanners attached to her. Clara started crying again, but softer than before. A few tears leaked out of the Doctor's eyes too as they mourned.

The next four months passed by slowly. Clara nearly became depressed more often than not, but the Doctor always managed to pull her out of it somehow. She stopped breaking down after the second week, but she would stay awfully quiet when left alone for too long. The two of them didn't go on a many adventures, but when they did they acted as they usually did, too wrapped up in the mystery to mourn their loss. The fact that they were a couple was kept from the Universe, so everyone always assumed she was just a companion. It wasn't until the fifth month after the accident that they were finally jolted out of their misery.

The phone wrang twice before Clara picked it up. "Hello, this is Clara Oswald speaking. Who are you and are you needing the Doctor's help?"

_"Hello sweetie, tell the Doctor I need some help. Galorian, 43-98-Pear the Sally-Quadrent. He know's the when and the where."_

Clara furrowed her brow. "I'm sorry, who is this?" The Doctor came over with a curious expression.

"_Professor Song, I'm on an expedition for the Luna Academy, but I'm a very dear friend of his."_

Clara froze. "I-I-I'm sorry, but aren't you _dead_?"

Silence came over the phone. "_Has this Doctor been to Darillium yet?"_

Clara looked to the Doctor. "Darillium?"

The Doctor suddenly went eight shades paler and shook his head before grabbing the phone. "River. I cannot come this time. Call a different version, _please_."

An angry huff came over the line. "_I'm calling in that favor you owe me. Get here, now."_ The phone went dead, and the Doctor groaned.

Clara looked to the Doctor with a tight lip. "She's your wife, Theta. Act like you did after you first met me. Forget about every personal thing between us until we get through the adventure. You can go to Darillium with her afterwards." He had told her his name long ago, but he preferred his nick-name. She closed her eyes and her bottom lip quivered slightly before she spoke. "We both need to move on about It anyway. This will be good for us, good for you. We need a break anyway."

The Doctor looked at her with sad eyes before nodding and setting the coordinates. A smile came to his face instantly as the time-rotor started up. Slowly, Clara smiled too and laughed a little as he jumped around from place to place, trying to pilot the machine. Shaking her head, she slowly helped him with what little knowledge she had of the machine. Very quickly, the ride became smoother, though the vworp-vwrop sound stayed.

A bell sounded when they landed, signalling their arrival. Looking to each other, the Doctor kissed her lightly on the lips before acting like she was a normal companion. Bounding to the door, he opened to see a desert full of diggers. River Song came over and smiled at him, looking to Clara with an interested expression.

"Doctor, and you must be Clara?" She stuck out a hand, which Clara shook. "Professor River Song, archaeologist and professor at the Luna University. What time are you from?"

Clara smiled and shrugged. "Two thousand and thirteen, but I haven't been back there for three years. Alien planets are _much_ more interesting. The last time I was on Earth was when we went to Victorian Yorkshire, ugh."

River chuckled before looking to the Doctor. "Diaries?"

He shook his head. "Only this and Darillium, Riv. I honestly didn't expect you to call, as you've never mentioned this one before."

She wrinkled her nose in confusion before shrugging and turning around. "After this expedition I'm going to the Library Planet, five day notice. I'll be leaving in four days, so I called you now."

The Doctor and Clara shared a look before following her into the dig-site. She led them to a tent and uncovered a stone tablet which made Clara freeze. The Doctor looked to her with a curious expression but shrugged and went closer to see it better.

"The diggers found it a few days ago. Totally blank, but when someone spilled their blood on it, it lit up enough that the guys within a five-foot radius were temporarily blinded. What do you think?"

He frowned and buzzed it with his sonic screwdriver, to get pulled back by a frantic Clara. "Clara, what are you doing?"

"Don't you know what that is?" She waved at the stone tablet. The Doctor shook his head and looked to it again. It was about three feet squared, but only around an inch thick. The stone was totally blank, but something in his brain knew he should recognize it..."Perception filter!" He said, pointing his screwdriver at it. Runes immediately appeared, along with a painting of a giant snake which started coming out of the stone as if it was hollow.

River stepped back and watched as it unfurled and raised its head, looking at the three of them. The Doctor rummaged around in his pockets until he came across a blood-bank. He threw it at the snake, which caught it with its toothless gums and swallowed it whole. Once it had, it turned to stone and crumbled until it was just dust in the wind.

"What _was _that!" River said, looking to him. The Doctor jerked his head over to Clara, who stepped forward.

"Its a Marcometu. Some ancient civilization decided they needed guards for their temples and created them. But they got out of control so they trapped them in the tablets. They hid the tablets in the sands of deserts all across their known universe. Two perception filters were laid on top of each other, that could only be broken by blood. The flash of light would have been the first perception filter breaking. The Marcometu can escape the tablet if a male sees the runes though, hence the second perception filter. We came across one a year or two ago. Fortunately, as a precaution, they made the snakes allergic to iron. The Marcometu feeds on blood, but the people that it was created around didn't have iron in their blood. So when its faced with its food after hundreds of years of starvation, whats it gonna do?"

River looked at Clara with an impressed look on her face before facing the Doctor. "You always choose the best companions, sweetie."

The Doctor shrugged before smiling at Clara. "Its more with the fact that Clara has echoes of herself throughout history, and it attracted my attention once two version of her, one future and one past Clara, died saving my life. She managed to _phone_ me on the fake telephone on the outside of the TARDIS! Who can do that!"

River looked to Clara, who shrugged sheepishly. "The internet wasn't working."

The Doctor decided at that point to butt in. "But we have to go now the works done." He grabbed Clara's shoulders and turned her around and frog marched her back to the TARDIS, River trailing behind them staying quite silent.

"How did you become a Time-Lady?" She asked, just as they were walking through the TARDIS doors. The Doctor gulped and looked back while Clara removed his hands from her shoulders.

"Well?" River put her hands on her hips, demanding an answer.

The Doctor stepped back outside and paced before finally stopping and looking at her. "The last time I saw you was in Manhattan. But the very _first_ time I met you, you said my name to get me to trust you. I can't tell you my name, because you're not full Time-Lady, but not human enough. To tell you my name personally would usually make a human a Time-Lady, but since you're human plus, you'd...die. Clara can tell you my name."

River looked at him, shocked, before looking to Clara, who came closer before bringing her lips near her ear. A word the sound of bells was whispered into her ear and she couldn't help but shiver. Clara stepped back and stared at her warningly.

"Only ever repeat the name when you need it most." She said, before stepping back and walking into the TARDIS demurely.

The Doctor gave her a small salute before stepping into the TARDIS, shutting the doors behind him. Going up to the console, he kissed Clara's cheek before starting up the time-machine.

"I'll go take River to Darillium now. I don't want any more surprises." He pressed a lever and the TARDIS stopped. Going to the doors, he looked to see a confused River. She turned and frowned. "Get something nice on, River, it's time to see the Singing Towers."

He looked back to see Clara leaving the control room, probably to go back to their room. River came through the door, already wearing a cocktail dress.

...o...

Clara walked into their room and flopped onto the bed, looking up to the ceiling. The TARDIS made a soothing noise and Earth-stars appeared in her line of sight. She stayed there watching the stars until she fell asleep.

A shout woke her up. Bleary-eyed, she looked to see River slapping the Doctor in the face. Clara screamed for a second before clapping a hand on her mouth. River glared at her before looking back to the Time-Lord.

"Didn't know your companions made a habit of sleeping in your bed, or is it just her!" Another slap. "I'm your wife!"

Clara was instantly awake. "And I nearly had his kid!" She blurted out, making the Doctor freeze and River whip her head around to look at Clara.

"I nearly had his kid. I had a miscarriage about five months ago. He thought he had lost you already." She whispered, but they both heard her. Tears started dripping from her eyes but she wiped them away and got up. Walking past them, she broke out in a run, heading into the library. Going to the upper floor, she went over to 'her' sofa and curled up in it. Ten minutes later, she felt the usual hum and heard the vworp-vworp of the TARDIS in flight. Looking to the ceiling, what could be called a security feed appeared. The Doctor and River were side by side. She kissed his cheek and gave him a hug before leaving through the doors. The Doctor sniffed once before putting the TARDIS into flight, finally putting her on autopilot as they orbited a new star. The camera shut off then, just as he left the console room.

She was still staring up at the ceiling when he arrived in the library beside her.

"Clara, love..." He trailed off as she turned her head to look at him.

"Do you think we can start over? Us?" She whispered, taking the hand he had resting on her knee.

The Doctor nodded before gathering her in his arms. "Sure, love. We can start over."

"Starting over sounds nice."


End file.
